Keith P. Graham

Skipping the Middleman: How to Self Publish E-books

Talk at West Nyack Library, January 18, 2012

I'm not a good writer, but I am damn clever at computer stuff. I like writing short stories, and I have written a bunch. About a year ago I decided to collect some of these and put them into a book. Publishing my own book was a process that was challenging, frustrating and in the end, satisfying. I can hold my book in my hand and it feels pretty good.

It doesn't matter that my books are not a best seller. There a hundreds of millions of books out there and I don't have a name or a good way to promote my books. I published my book because it was a challenge. I've done a couple more since then and I will put together at least three more books this year. My income, I expect, will be a few hundred dollars at most.

I dropped my book off at the West Nyack Library so they could add it to the stack. I am not sure if anyone actually checked it out. While I was there I committed to giving a talk on how I was able to self publish.

Here are the sections that I expect to cover:

1) 5 Arguments Against Self Publishing.

2) 10 good reasons to self publish your book

3) The Manuscript. Things to keep in mind while writing your book

4) Publish your book for free

5) The Book Cover

6) Publishing a Kindle book

7) Publishing at CreateSpace

8) Publishing at Smashwords

9) Promoting your book